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Oklahoma City firefighters are using the buildings between Robinson and Harvey avenues on SW 5 and SW 6 to practice real-time firefighting tactics, including search-and-rescue operations. About 850 firefighters will be trained in the buildings through June.

BY MATT DINGER mdinger@opubco.com •
Published: May 5, 2013

Abandoned buildings just south of downtown Oklahoma City will be filled with smoke and punched full of holes this spring before they are demolished and replaced by a park.

Oklahoma City firefighters train in vacant buildings near SW 5 and Robinson Avenue. Maj. Shane Williams said the buildings -- scheduled for demolition -- serve as a perfect training venue because they provide a realistic setting. Firefighters practiced search and rescue techniques in a smoke-filled buildings, fire attack with large hoses, cutting into metal and steel for entry, and how to use thermal imaging devices inside a fire scene. Jim Beckel - THE OKLAHOMAN

Firefighters are using the buildings between Robinson and Harvey avenues on SW 5 and SW 6 to practice real-time firefighting tactics, including search-and-rescue operations. About 850 firefighters will be trained in the buildings through June, from the newest in the department to those on the cusp of retirement.

Maj. Shane Williams, 20-year veteran of the fire department, said firefighting strategies have evolved continually during his career, with new techniques and technologies regularly replacing the old ones. Hands-on training is the best way to prepare firefighters to use them properly on the job, he said.

“The day you come into the fire station and you think you know everything, you need to retire,” Williams said.

In one exercise, smudge pots are lighted and topped with wet hay, filling the building with dense smoke. A team of firefighters heads inside to pull out a 180-pound mannequin dressed in bunker gear, Williams said.

This group of firefighters — known as a rapid intervention team — is designated at the scene of every residential and commercial fire in Oklahoma City. The team members' only purpose is to make sure their fellow firefighters don't become lost or trapped while extinguishing the blaze.

In a worst-case scenario, they will tie off a rope and march into the burning building, with two firefighters — known as “rabbits” — leading the way and feeling around quickly for bodies, Williams said.

The same approach with a rope is used to scour large buildings with few interior walls.

Firefighters also are practicing the use of thermal imaging cameras to seek human-shaped sources of heat inside a building. Mirrors and windows reflect heat signatures back at firefighters, Williams said, and this training allows them to see firsthand what a false positive looks like in the field.